He will give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.

As the wife of a soldier who averaged being away from home every third night in the first ten years of our marriage, I worried a great deal about taking care of my children all by myself. I just didn't seem to worry about it at the right times.

I didn't worry about it when we bought our house in Kennesaw, Georgia. It never entered my mind to ask myself before we signed the contracts how I would get our two pre-schoolers out of the upstairs bedrooms if there was a fire that kept us from using the staircase. All I thought about at the time of purchase was how much I liked the one acre lot the house we could afford sat on; how I would rip out all the 1960s avocado and gold floral wallpaper and replace it with the current 1980s blue and burgandy small country patterns; how great the Christmas tree would look in the large den with the bricked hearth and fireplace the previous owners had made out of the double garage.

I worried about how I would take care of the children when I got pregnant by accident with our third before we came back to the States from Germany. Our second child wouldn't even be two years old when the new baby came. It was the first time I'd ever been pregnant by accident, and I felt like a guilty teenager caught going all the way with my boyfriend in the backseat of his car. After about six weeks, though, (that's how long it used to take to be sure you were pregnant) I got used to the idea of carrying a baby again, and I started taking my prenatal vitamins, sitting Indian-style on the floor when I watched television, and taking my walks when my husband got home at night to get myself back in shape and ready for labor.

Then one evening at the beginning of the fourth month I started to bleed. By the next morning it was over. My husband would find me crying in those first few weeks afterward. He'd put his arms around me and softly say, "Kathleen, sweetheart, you can't wish a baby away." I don't know how I would have lived with myself if he hadn't said those words to me. I looked at my two precious children, Amber at three and Joshua just six months, and I knew that lost baby would have been just like them. So Josh wouldn't even be two when it came? How could I not want her or him?

But I didn't worry about how I would take care of three children alone a third of the time enough to keep from getting pregnant again a year later. I was too thrilled that my child-bearing days weren't going to end with the loss of that last baby. This one would be three years younger than Joshua. I could handle three children within five and a half years of each other. And we were back in the states, in our hometown even. I'd have my family and my in-laws within reach.

And help even came from the most unexpected sources. One night about nine o'clock the phone rang. It was one of the two men who lived in the house next door. What exactly their living arrangements were, I didn't know for sure. But they were both very friendly on the rare occasions we'd all be out in our yards at the same time.

"Kathleen, why isn't your back porch light on?" the neighbor asked.

I laughed. "I don't know. Why isn't my back porch light on?"

"Well, Don is out of town this week, isn't he? You always leave the light on when he's gone, and we just wanted to check on you and make sure you were all right."

I didn't worry as much after that night about being alone with my kids. Someone was watching out for us - right next door.

We lived in that house and my husband continued to travel about twelve to fifteen days out of every month even after our third baby and second son was born. That one phone call from my neighbor helped. I locked my doors at night and slept pretty well most of the time. I wasn't afraid of all the scary things that could happen. I was just worried about how well I would handle any emergency that might happen with the three children and just me.

One night I woke out of a sound sleep and sat straight up in bed. I could see from my bedroon across the hall into the boys' room without turning on a lamp because there was a streetlight that shone right into their window. As my eyes began to focus from sleep, I saw a large woman standing at their window like she was keeping watch. She had soft, red hair flowing over her shoulders, with the sides held back with some kind of clasp. She wore a flowing robe of jewel-tone colors. She looked at me over her shoulder and peacefully smiled. Then she turned back to watch out the window.

I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't dreaming, and when I looked back, she was gone.

I've been very careful about who I told about this occurance in the years that have passed. My three children are adults now. The woman in my little boys' room that night didn't have wings or a hallo, and she didn't wear white. But I know, in my mother's heart, she was an angel, standing guard over us that night. I suspect she was there many nights. Why I was allowed to see her that once, I can't imagine. But after that once, I didn't worry so much about my having to take care of my three children all alone.

Years later, I did tell my closest friend about that night. She said I should ask my mother if anyone in the family looked like the woman I saw, someone who might still worry about her children's children, or her children's children's children. But the woman wasn't a ghost, someone who had died and come back. I know she was an angel, a ministering spirit. She didn't frighten me. She just let me know, it wasn't all up to me, all by myself.

Comments

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sending

AUTHOR

Kathleen Cochran

8 months agofrom Atlanta, Georgia

It's Mother's Day. I'm recycling all the hubs I've written on the subject. I'm surprised I had so much to say! Happy!

AUTHOR

Kathleen Cochran

5 years agofrom Atlanta, Georgia

No, I never did. I asked my mother and mother-in-law if she sounded familiar to them, and she did not. Maybe one day I'll find out if she was someone from my past. But that would make her a ghost. And I believe she was an angel. Do you think there is a difference?

Kelly Capozzi

5 years ago

Such a good story. Did you ever find out if someone in your family looked like her?

AUTHOR

Kathleen Cochran

6 years agofrom Atlanta, Georgia

Lilleyth: There are no explanations for these experiences. Trying to convince anyone of what we've seen is pointless. Either you believe or you don't. Especially where are children are concerned.

Hope your son is doing well. Thanks for your response to this hub, but did it get cut off?

Suzanne Sheffield

6 years agofrom Mid-Atlantic

I too, have seen angels...during my son's first night in Johns Hopkins Hospital after being diagnosed with leukemia. 2, 10-foot tall, semi-transparent beings, dressed in full-length robes, identical, no wings, standing like soldiers on both sides of his bed. I was in his bedroom praying. This was before all the angel books. Months later, I was staying in the Ronald McDonald House when I overheard a television show where the guest was talking about 10-foot angels...Sophie Burnam.

AUTHOR

Kathleen Cochran

7 years agofrom Atlanta, Georgia

Green Lotus: Welcome to my hubs. Look forward to reading some of yours. Thanks for the encouragement!

Hillary

7 years agofrom Atlanta, GA

I came across this Hub through another and I'm glad I did. Thanks for a touching and compelling read. The subject is of interest to me as of late, but I suspect I will enjoy reading some of your other Hubs too! Cheers.

AUTHOR

Kathleen Cochran

7 years agofrom Atlanta, Georgia

Analise: Wow - Are you sure you are not an angel? Nobody has read this hub in months. And to get such a facinating "comment" is amazing. My husband said you should reprint your comment as a Hub. I agree! Thanks for coming into my world. I hope we stay in touch.

anjegirl

7 years agofrom Myrtle Beach,SC

Kathleen,

I am 60 and have experienced ghosts, angels and more in my travels, but one day in the early 90's when going through a very long divorce my little maltese was downstairs in my house barking his head off and he was not a barking dog. I was upstairs dressing for our first day in court after 5 years and $200,000 in legal fees and I felt pretty good and felt like at the very least I would get half of everything to include a business I had built with my husband over 9 years. I was running late,trying to put on a suit and panty hose and AJ would not stop barking when I asked him to, so I ran downstairs and on the sidewalk was this gorgeous little girl maltese with pink bows in her hair and a woman was attached to her that I can only describe as "ethereal" and as I turned to go back upstairs my door bell rang. It was at least 15 yards from the sidewalk to the door and even if this woman had been running she couldn't have been at my door that fast. I knew she had seen me in the picture window and how could I not answer the door and as soon as I did she walked right in. No one does that,right? As she stood there before me she still looked "ethereal" with steel blue eyes and milky pink skin and gorgeous waist length natural blonde hair. She was about 40 and there are almost no natural blondes that are that old and the woman was clearly flesh and blood. She introduced herself and told me she lived in a house down the street where I knew a Chinese family lived and before I could talk, she said; "I am here on a mission from God and I want to tell you that you are going to lose everything in your divorce and that you are to write the story of your life and send it to Oprah and your book will make millions and your story will be the first ever weekly true life story made for TV." She went on to say that I have experienced and survived many things that are meant to be shared with the world and that Oprah was to be my "vessel" to share my story. She told me that lawyers had killed her husband and robbed them of all their worldly goods and that God had told her to write about the lawyers and submit here story to Oprah and she would be made financially whole again and God had sent her to tell me the same thing. She told me her book was on the NY times best seller list and it was titled,"Lawyers and other serpentines." She told me her phone number and left. Well I knew that she did not live in the house she said and I called the number and it did not exist and the book did not exist either. I have lived in 38 cities and 12 states and Mexico twice since college and everyone who has spent 6 months in my life have told me to write a book about my life. My life has been calamity jane on crack or the perils of Pauline times a bazillion. Three years ago I took 6 months off from work and made a 38 page synopsis of the story of my life and sent it to Oprah and just to find out that they did not accept any incoming mail and I also sent it to 30 of the top publishing agents in America and this was late in 2008 and no one was getting published, but I did get some suggestions from some big names to find someone less busy and keep trying, so maybe someday. But I wanted to share this story with you and tell you that there are tons of books out there that are compilations of angel stories and my favorite are the stories of kids who have angel encounters and I used to read these to my nieces and nephews and they loved them. I died and went to Heaven in the early 70's and that is life changing but I want to share a book with you that is my favorite of all time and a book I have given to tons of ppl. over the years. It is called "Embraced by the Light" and is life changing about an American Indian mother of 6 who died and went to heaven after a routine surgery. What she saw and how she is able to express it in this very short book is amazing to all who read it. Thank you and your husband for serving our country and Merry Christmas to you and yours. Analise Roberts

AUTHOR

Kathleen Cochran

7 years agofrom Atlanta, Georgia

Made: Thanks for reading and commenting on this very personal hub. Best to you!

Madeleine Salin

7 years agofrom Finland

Thanks for sharing this wonderful story.

AUTHOR

Kathleen Cochran

7 years agofrom Atlanta, Georgia

BaliMermaid: Thanks for taking time to read this hub and for your comments. This one does mean a great deal to me.

BaliMermaid

7 years agofrom Ubud Bali

What a wonderful story. One can tell you wrote this from your heart and that makes the entire event, oh so believable. Thank you for sharing this with us all.

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